


Edgestorm

by BasisFazer



Category: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5374907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BasisFazer/pseuds/BasisFazer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lonely boy creates a video game so he can play with his friends who live in another city, but there are alterations in the coding that takes the game to a new level of challenging. There is a sentient non-playrer-character (NPC) who controls where player characters go when they die in game; here's a hint: it's not back to the real world. The story follows the developer and his friends discovering the dangers of the new engine and their efforts to stop the NPC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Prologue

Chapter 1: A Prologue  
December 23, 2014

An aspiring young developer situated himself at his computer, nervously hovering his cursor over the call button on Skype. The seventeen year old senior had been dabbling with game design since the age of twelve, but he still considered himself a novice. Shane had wanted to test his new game with a longtime friend, Ben. Knowing he could no longer put it off, Shane called Ben with slight remorse. Though they had been friends since their sophomore year, they had a recent falling out over a girl. Petty as it may seem, Shane did not appreciate the way Ben had treated her. Then again, Shane couldn’t have treated her any better.

  
The dial sound rang. The two boys got acquainted and prepared themselves for a recording. “Hey everyone, Shane here with…” Shane, fully expecting Ben to know what to do, had to coax him into saying his own name.

  
“Ben,” he said, slightly annoyed. Ben once had a YouTube channel running, but it was taken down due to bullying. Shane, being as selfish as he was, did not bother to ask if Ben was comfortable being on YouTube again.

  
“We are here in a test of my newish game, Edgestorm.”

  
“Weren’t you working on this sophomore year?” Ben asked, only partially interested. It was true, though. Edgestorm went through many iterations before coming to this most recent one.

  
“Look, I like the Edgestorm Intellectual Property and don’t want to let it go,” Shane explained. Perhaps it was his passion and desire to create that actually led him to acting so selfishly. When Shane was fully hooked on something, he would not let it go.

  
Ben retorted with, “It’s not really an IP if it incorporates many different IPs.” Perhaps Ben was right because Shane actually didn’t know anything about IPs, but when he was passionate about something he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  
“Kingdom Hearts is an IP, and it includes Disney and Final Fantasy,” was the strongest comeback he could think of.

  
“Good point,” Ben said. Shane could never tell what it was Ben was feeling. It was either Ben was accepting what Shane said or he had no interest in the matter at all. Deciding not to bother with Ben and his mannerisms, Shane launched the game and was greeted with the familiar title screen and background that was used in all first time projects. It had been set to plains as default, and Shane never felt the need to change it.

  
“Let me just sign in… and… make my character,” Shane said as he selected the attributes he wanted his avatar, Basis, to have. Unlike most games in the common age, Shane preferred the look and feel of old-school role playing games. The Basis avatar, like every other character in Shane’s games, was simply a 16-bit sprite.

  
One would have expected Shane to be able to create games on his own by now, but he has to constantly borrow from other designers for his games to work the way he wants them to. The character creation scene was adapted from the composite character script made by Neon Black. Though Shane was unable to create his own scripts, he was certainly able to manipulate them to get his desired results. The original script did not allow for a change in skin color, but Shane was able to include multiple races so his avatar could have pale skin like the original Process of Death: Equality character had. However, unlike the original, Edgestorm’s Basis had a deep purple hair instead of black, due to the lack of saturation control in the engine, and retained his signature blue eyes.

  
“Do I get to make mine?” Ben complained.

  
“You chose your look already.” Wanting the video to go by as quickly as possible, Shane just gave Ben the character he voiced in Process of Death: Equality, Benentt. As this was Edgestorm and not Process of Death: Equality, the name was changed to Silver, but the look remained the same. The now named Silver was pale and had blue eyes like Basis. Silver had an unknown hair color due to the magician hood he wore, but Ben would say his hair was either red or raven black.

  
The clothes a character wears in Edgestorm was dependent upon the class the player choose for themselves. For instance, Basis wore a red robe to signify his use of red magic, or commonly referred to as a mage. Red magic is not a magic class in and of itself but is instead the classification given to those mages who can cast both passive, white, and offensive, black, magic without actually being able to master it. Silver, on the other hand, was a black mage, but his design was created in Process of Death: Equality and not in Edgestorm so his clothes are nor found elsewhere in the engine. Silver wore blue fatigues, a blue hood, and an orange cape.

  
“Now we talk with Jader,” Shane continued. Edgestorm was a game comprised of many games and was based on the idea that a player would be able to retain their character’s stats for the sake of not having to start over when a sequel came out. Shane used this system as a way to go between one of his favorite games, Final Fantasy, and a game that was quite popular amongst his friend group, Pokémon. However, neither of those two games were the games he decided to test first. The test began with the developer’s own game, Process of Death: Equality, and tested to see if games could, in fact, be transferred between engines.

  
“Who?” Inquired Ben. Jader was the king in Process of Death: Equality who gave Basis the mission to go into the caves of Inow to find the dragon Bruran.  
“The blond haired one,” Shane said, clearly ignoring the surroundings of the room.

  
“There are no blond characters here,” Ben pointed out.

  
“Huh? Then the one on the throne,” the flustered boy corrected.

  
“We have a demon problem here in the castle, Silver. Thank you for bringing Basis,” Jader said, humbly. “Perhaps you two can settle the issue in the dungeon?”  
“Is this the right guy?” Ben asked, making sure he didn’t make a mistake again.

  
“Yeah. Do you accept the mission?” Shane offered.

  
“I have no choice, so let’s get going,” suggested Ben. The duo left the throne room of Jader and his small court.

  
Shane asked, “Is this how you remember Process of Death: Equality?” as the two approached the stairs leading to the first floor. The fact that Jader asked them to take care of a “demon problem” in the dungeon rather than asking them to go into the caves and fight the dragon was unsettling to him. Not to mention the fact that Jader had teal hair instead of blonde like he was designed to.

  
“I actually don’t remember anything you made, sorry,” Ben answered honestly.

  
“Wow, thanks. I only talked to you about it for a year,” Shane quipped. Shane had a very bad tendency to talk excessively about his projects with Ben, or anyone who would listen, and it would sometimes be too much information to take in. The people he talked to would most likely lose interest and just nod and go with what he was saying.  
“Yeah, my memory is not the best,” Ben lied.

  
“Whatever, here we go,” Shane said nonchalantly, but hurting on the inside after his supposed friend’s lack of care. The duo approached the stairs to the basement and were immediately greeted by a brown skinned humanoid with his skin stretching out of his back to form wings.

  
Emerbar spoke deeply and elegantly. “It is about time you showed up. Do you know how long I've been waiting? It doesn't matter now because everything is falling into place.” In the original story of Process of Death: Equality, Basis returned from the caves of Inow with the key granting access to the dungeon that was previously wrapped around the dragon’s neck. Shane found it strange that the door was not locked and even stranger that Emerbar said he had been waiting for his arrival. Just then, the scene had changed to a battle sequence reminiscent of the early Final Fantasy games.

  
Ben asked Shane, “How can we do anything to him? We do not have magic or weapons.”

  
Shane, being as smug as he was, replied with, “I don’t know about you, but I do not rely solely on magic. I will speak through my sword.” As a red mage, Shane was able to use offensive physical skills in addition to both classes of magic. Physical attacks did not require any expenditure like magic casting did, so Shane would attack Emerbar freely before replying to Ben’s concerns. Ben, however, could only defend.

  
“Why do you have a weapon?” Ben asked, clearly not amused.

  
“I also have armor.”

  
“What do I have?”

  
“Well, nothing,” Shane replied, almost forgetting they were in a battle.

  
“How is that fair?” Ben asked, not interested in the battle but in the unequal treatment he was facing.

  
“I don’t choose how the game upgrades the players,” Shane lied. This treatment was a type of revenge he couldn’t exact in real life.

  
“That seems like a thing you do control,” Ben complained before taking one final hit from Emerbar. Though he was defending, Emerbar was too powerful for Ben’s weak defense level.

  
“Everything runs off of an intelligence system,” Shane tried to explain but was only greeted with the sound of static. “Hey, Ben?” he called out.

 

“Where did Silver go?” Emerbar asked Basis, mocking him. Shane then immediately escaped from the battle.

  
“What are you talking about? How could you know he cut out?” Shane asked, concerned about what he thought was happening.

  
“How could you ask such a question?” Emerbar asked, anger increasing.

  
“I think the better question is if you can understand me.”

  
“You are not the Basis I was expecting; you are a player!”

  
“I need to go,” cried out Shane before using his console controls to change his location.

 

* * *

 

December 24, 2014

Shane sat in his chair staring into the screen that displayed his game. “Well, Ben is gone,” is all Shane could say in lieu of the situation. “Emerbar is sentient, and I’m going to be in trouble if Ben’s mom finds out he’s missing on Christmas. I need to restart the system and see what that does.” Shane was acutely aware of the New Game Plus feature in games. Essentially the feature allowed a player to begin a new game without sacrificing the effort he or she put into leveling a character up by starting the game over with the same stats as before the reset. Shane was going to do this with his game, despite it being even finished, so that he could hopefully bring Ben back.  
However, the reset triggered a creation scene for the Emerbar AI. He spoke to his creation, “Why am I making you? I want to get away from Basis, but this is the best way I know how to; by making a version of him designed to destroy the original. My team out there could use the help, though.”  
 


	2. Chapter 2: New Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane gathers his friends together in Edgestorm under false pretenses. He makes the game out to be just a multiplayer experience for him and his friends, which is not far from the truth, but the real reason he brings them together is to be able to form a search party to find Ben. He begins their initiation by giving them their own monster essences to enchant their weapons and armors with.

December 30, 2014

Shane sat at his computer, once again. He was not going to be entering the game solo because he knew the dangers the game posed with Emerbar out there and Ben missing, but that presented a paradox. It was dangerous to go in alone because Shane could go missing and no one would find him, but by bringing others into the game, he risked their safety as well. Shane had recognized the reset did not bring Ben back, so he asked two of his friends to join him in a search of the game from the inside to see where the missing boy could have possibly gone.   
“Here I go!” he shouted. The light from the computer engulfed him in his dark room, and the image of the beginning town in Final Fantasy, Cornelia, became clear. Shane, as Basis again, walked around the town, musing to himself. “I should see if Billy and Sean can connect with me now. I hope my internet connection is good enough for a three-way link though. Last time Billy and I did one, it wasn't that great.” Shane walked into the inn and pub at the south entrance of town and sat down at a table. He called Billy and Sean on a conference Skype call and waited for their arrival in the pub. “This is it. Once you get here there is no turning back. You will be locked in as players two and three,” he talked to himself as the dial tone sounded.  
Billy’s avatar, Mercury, had red-orange hair, the closest color to brown he could find on the color selector, the same colored eyes, and a blue robe indicating his class as a black mage. Billy answered the call at the same time as his avatar appeared on screen. “So, where Sean's character?” he asked, looking around the room but not seeing a third character. Shane could not see either avatar.  
“I'm over here,” Sean announced joining the call. His avatar, GN, had the same red-orange hair as Mercury but had blue-green eyes and wore a red plate armor. “I can see you two, so what's up with that?”  
“Oh great,” Shane said sarcastically. “Looks like we can't play in real time because of my fluctuating internet connection.” He lived in a separate city from his friends, hence the reason for an online game. In the far away town, there were many swamps but not very many coaxial wires to go around, so Shane lived off of spotty Wi-Fi and imperfect hardware.  
“Or, you know, make an actual multiplayer game,” Billy commented, clearly not taking into account Shane’s situation because of his own almost perfect computer system. Billy’s machine was a massive PC tower that reached the height of a small table, but for some unknown reason to either boy, it could not properly play Shane’s game. Neither knew how to solve the problem, but, like most medicines, Shane covered up the symptoms. He installed a script he found off of the internet to allow use of the WASD keys rather than the arrow keys. A true developer he was not, but Shane knew how to handle any situation.  
“This is the closest I could do. I'm still technically a novice despite my seven years of experience.” Shane never considered himself to be good at anything, only moderately acceptable. “We will only be able to see each other when when we are all in same room after a save flow” Shane said, not explaining what that actually meant.  
“Save flow?” Sean asked, trying to follow what his friend had said.  
“As the last player to enter the game, Sean, sign off.”  
“What, why?” Sean asked, confused.  
“Then, Billy.”  
“Shane, you aren’t explaining yourself,” Billy reminded.  
“The save flow is everyone saving and logging out in the same room, and followed by logging in after the last person logs off. Whenever we need to ensure the safety of our save data we need to do this flow.” Shane explained, and the two guests to the game did as the developer told them to do. Billy continued to talk to his best friend via Skype after everyone was visible on screen.  
“Shane, did you only build the game mechanics? There isn't much we can do here,” he complained. In the early stages of development, Shane would add the scripts to the engine to make sure everything worked in coordination, and if not he would scrap it. He was still in the script adding phase even when fighting Emerbar.  
“Actually, I build mechanics as I go, like I just recently modified the Pocket Edge. I spent most of my time planning things in my head, so I can add it later.”  
“How much have you added to Pokémon in this version?” Billy asked, interested in going to a game he had more connection with.  
“Yeah, can we go there now?” Sean added, also interested in Pokémon. His favorite style of game was the medieval sword swinging one, but he never played a Final Fantasy game before so preferred the concept of Pokémon in this game.  
“Follow me to the church, if you would like to see,” Shane announced. He set up the game in a weird way by allowing players to cross over into the other games, called Edges, by literally touching a cross. The red mage demonstrated first, thus confusing Billy.  
“What the hell just happened; that aesthetically made no sense?” he complained.  
“This is the new Edge system. It is slightly inspired from the other system I had, but this seems to make more sense,” the developer explained.  
“Can you explain the edge system again?” Sean asked, desperate to understand his friend’s game.  
“Well, the Edges are just that; they are on the edge of each other. To cross over to Pokemon, you go by the Fantasy. The cross is literally where the edge is.”  
“Excluding Final Fantasy and Pokemon because of the literal cross an NPC wouldn't be able to interact with, could an NPC cross into an Edge if they were physically side by side?” Billy pondered.  
“Hm, good question. I suppose the literal cross was implemented as a form of protection against wandering NPCs, but side by side Edges… I hadn't considered that.”  
“Cool. So far so good, Shane. Now, let's go see what the Pokemon look like,” Sean declared, excited.  
“They look like Pokemon, what do you want from me?” Shane snapped. Cooling off, he took his friends to see the Professor in the local pub. Because Pokemon was linked with Final Fanatsy in his game, it was no longer about collecting all of the monsters the game had to offer, but, instead, was about using those monsters to upgrade a sword or a piece of armor to better attack other monsters. A laboratory dedicated to the study of monsters would be out of place, so the Professor operated out of a pub instead. Billy read for the NPC.  
“Wait, boys! I know you came from Cornelia.” He acted out a mocking voice.  
“Really?” Shane said, slightly amused, but didn’t want to show it.  
“Okay, Sean, this is essentially Professor Oak, though that won't be his name. Think of the Edges as states. The people of one Edge know what's going on in another, but they are powerless to do anything about it,” Shane explained, in the best way he could think of.  
“That's where you’ll come in, but I'm afraid your weapons will not be very effective here. The monsters here have many more resistances than the monsters where you are from. The best way to set you up is to supply you with a rune with the essence of one of three monsters. You may have one that sparks an interest in you,” he said, as the professor of a Pokemon game would. A choice of three chests was presented in front of the boys; a red one, a blue one, and a green one. Each would hold the Kanto starter Pokemon, and the trio knew which ones they each wanted, but Shane had to make an announcement first.  
“Okay everyone, sign out so I can get my pick. Then, one at a time, you will sign in, get yours, and sign out.”  
“This is too complicated. I agree with BIlly now, just make an MMO.” Sean spoke up.  
“I can't! Just do the flow so we can get our Pokemon. I'll get the Squirtle.” Shane announced as everyone signed out of the game. The save flow was initiated, and everyone signed back in and announced which Pokemon they picked up.  
“I have Bulbasaur… sort of. I guess I won’t be naming him Solaire.” Billy began.  
“Charmander for the win,” Sean boasted. “Hey, let's spar. Yeah, let's see who's stronger.” Sean began acting as the Green character from the Pokemon Special manga.  
“I can tell you now that it is you, the warrior. If there were to be a fair match of strength, then Billy and I should fight,” Shane explained, using his knowledge of the classes.  
“I'm down. Let's do this,” Billy agreed.  
Billy’s Pokemon of choice would have given him type advantage over Shane were they actually playing pokemon, but the inclusion of final Fantasy classes changed the way billy understood battles to go. Even Shane could not predict the errors that his system would have. The two mages talked to the bar tender in the pub they were at to access the party options of dialogue, and each mage selected to fight the other. There was an error in the coding that removed an opponent’s equipment and, as a result, their enchantments, so Billy was without his type advantage when facing Shane, who still had his defense upgrades. The red mage had higher stats than either the white or black mages, so Shane already held the upperhand. Billy attacked first but inflicted no damage on his opponent, so Shane retaliated with a strike from his own rapier. Knowing he could kill his friend if he continued, Shane aborted the battle.  
“Yo, man, I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd be that overpowered. Sean, you want to have a go, then?”  
“That'd be great, but I have to go to work now. Let's meet up next week.”


End file.
